Marriage Equality Leader Highlights Progress Among Conservatives
Evan Wolfson, long time marriage equality advocate and founder and executive director of Freedom to Marry joined with Jon Cowan, president of the moderate think tank Third Way to draw attention to a “quiet revolution” within the ranks of the Republican Party. Writing for the Los Angeles Times, they pointed out the GOP’s relative silence on the issue of same-sex marriage in 2010, and the growing list of conservative leaders, from former solicitor general and hero of Perry v. Schwarzenegger Ted Olson to the extensive guest list at former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman’s fundraiser coming out in support of marriage equality.
What’s driving this insiders’ insurrection? Perhaps a sense that a libertarian-leaning belief in fully extending the freedom to marry to all Americans does not, in fact, clash with a conservative commitment to holding together the social fabric, as marriage entails personal responsibility and social stability. Or perhaps these GOP leaders are beginning to see an alignment of their rhetoric about individual liberty with public opinion; in the last month, two national polls, by CNN and the Associated Press, showed that a majority of Americans nationwide now support marriage for gay and lesbian couples.
The implications of such a historic shift in the GOP establishment’s stance on marriage should not be underestimated. For Republicans, it means they could become less moored to their socially conservative base and may get back in touch with the cautious but forward-looking American political center that is vital to GOP hopes of cobbling together a governing majority. For the country, it is evidence that we are inching ever closer to a national consensus that gay and lesbian couples should have the freedom to marry under the law.
Click here to read the whole thing.


